Has anyone ever bought a rod through buyee/yahoo jp? It troubles me that I can't send a message to the original seller asking him to package it for international shipping, and I don't know how well buyee packs rods.

Would love to hear anyone's experiences doing it.

Also, one of the purchases I was considering is a 3 rod package deal (from the same seller/auction listing). Ultra rare & pretty expensive, and I'd be heartbroken if they were damaged. I'm torn on if I should take the gamble.

Don't do it. They don't upgrade the shipping container so whatever container is used in Japan will be what comes to your door. The shipping costs can be outrageous too. I got my Orochi XX JPN through Buyee and it cost like $200 in shipping alone and there is no easy way to back out of a purchase and no way to know shipping costs until it is time to ship. You win a bid, Buyee buys it and let's you know it is at their warehouse waiting for you to pay them + shipping. You don't pay them and they hammer you with storage fees until they get their money. I payed $500 total for my EMTF JPN and it arrived in a Megabass single wall thickness triangular box and I am one of the fortunate ones. Others have had rods arrive broken and been SOL.

That's crazy. How on Earth can Shimreels send rods from Singapore with free shipping and tracking, but buyee charges $200 and uses a cardboard box? I would never ever ever use them. JDM grass is not THAT much greener...

poisonokie wrote:That's crazy. How on Earth can Shimreels send rods from Singapore with free shipping and tracking, but buyee charges $200 and uses a cardboard box? I would never ever ever use them. JDM grass is not THAT much greener...

With Shimreels, often the shipping expense is already included in the price. That's why the rods are more expensive than most other places. Sometimes you can catch a better deal though through them, or the overall expense will be a bit less.

poisonokie wrote:That's crazy. How on Earth can Shimreels send rods from Singapore with free shipping and tracking, but buyee charges $200 and uses a cardboard box? I would never ever ever use them. JDM grass is not THAT much greener...

Shimreels has a corporate account and their rates are much different than the average individuals.

As for buyee, they are a 3rd party middleman that makes it possible to buy from an average Japanese seller. I’ve won 2 rods off of auction and buyee charged me approximately $170 to ship, which is outrageous (however, I factored this into the cost of the auction and likely still paid less than what I would have here if I could have found the rods for sale). Unlike a lot of the responses in the link above, the rods came within 3 days, in a sturdy rod tube, that had thick bubble wrap around it. Using buyee for rods is very hit or miss. I would only use the service again for something I couldn’t find elsewhere.

As I mentioned in my earlier reply, I would only use them for something I couldn't find elsewhere. Well, I found a rod I've wanted for a while and got it for a much cheaper price than I would on ebay or if someone was selling one in the classifieds. The shipping was $158 from Tokyo to Atlanta. Again, I knew that going in and the total was still a bit cheaper than what I think the rod would go for from a seller here or on ebay, if I could find the rod to being with.

The rod arrived at my office today and in the UPS delivery guys' hands, the rod packaging was bending. This time, I didn't get the sturdy rod tube (I won the auction from a seller that had lots of auctions, thinking he has a store that sells fishing gear and would understand the need for a sturdy rod tube). The UPS delivery guy was nice enough to stand there as I opened the package. A flat out miracle that the rod wasn't damaged! Wow, was I lucky. The hit or miss nature of shipping via buyee (you'd think for their handling the fee, they would stick it in a tube ) struck again, but I was lucky. The flimsy cardboard triangular shaped box somehow was ok, even though it had a rip in the upper third, causing a bend in the package. The upside to buyee's ridiculous shipping policies is that the rod was shipped from Tokyo on Sunday night Atlanta time and I got it today.

LowRange wrote:Don't do it. They don't upgrade the shipping container so whatever container is used in Japan will be what comes to your door. The shipping costs can be outrageous too. I got my Orochi XX JPN through Buyee and it cost like $200 in shipping alone and there is no easy way to back out of a purchase and no way to know shipping costs until it is time to ship. You win a bid, Buyee buys it and let's you know it is at their warehouse waiting for you to pay them + shipping. You don't pay them and they hammer you with storage fees until they get their money. I payed $500 total for my EMTF JPN and it arrived in a Megabass single wall thickness triangular box and I am one of the fortunate ones. Others have had rods arrive broken and been SOL.